f* K e & T
January 8, 1920.
O
THE
TALKING MACHINE
News of the Week in the Phonograph Field
A MECHANICAL AGE
This being an age of suggestion—an age
when any easier, more labor-saving method
of doing a thing is immediately adopted and
gradually perfected — t h e talking-machine
idea of reproducing the human voice and pro-
ducing music has had the impetus of that sug-
gestion from the very start. A small dog steal-
ing a bone from a larger one in a village street
may start a general canine fight that will in-
volve nearly every cur and thoroughbred in
the town. Just so, the modest beginnings of
the talking-machine started a fire of enthusi-
asm that has developed into a flame that has
lighted the whole civilized world and some
parts of heathendom.
This is an age of machinery. Coal is mined
and transported by machinery, trousers are
manufactured by machinery, and pressed by
machinery; hair and wool are clipped by ma-
chinery; cows are milked by machinery, or-
chards are sprayed by machinery, millions of
men during the last four terrible years were
mowed down by machinery, and millions of
men, women and children are being entertain-
ed, soothed and instructed by the machines of
the theaters and the machines of music—the
talking-machine and the player-piano.
It is a mechanical age—mechanical to the
nth degree of the qth power. No good dentist
today will extract a doubtful tooth until he
first takes an X-ray picture of the roots of all
the teeth in the half of the mouth in which the
ache is felt; no novice is permitted to try out
in a position that calls for an expert. And
Nature, herself, is the most exacting taskmis-
tress of all. Nature can be overcome only by
employing other powers of nature; in this way
water may be compelled to flow up hill.
The old poets sang of the harmony of the
spheres. That harmony is being realized to-
day in the universality of music; and the most
universally-used instrument at the present
time is the talking-machine.
TROUBLES OF GERMAN DEALERS.
The use of the ten pfenning piece in coin-
operated instruments in Germany has been discon-
tinued since the meeting in Leipzig recently of the
Association of German Dealers in Mechanical and
Automatic Musical Instruments. Taxation troubles
are harassing the trade. It seems that manufac-
turers must now pay a new 10 per cent tax on
the instruments they make and that retail dealers
have to pay another 5 per cent. The law authoriz-
ing towns to place local taxes of any desired amount
on the use of automatic music instruments operated
on the coin in the slot principle was criticized. It
seems that some towns tax these automatic instru-
ments at one mark per day, other towns at two,
three, even more marks per day. So the ten pfennig
piece must be discontinued because the sum is too
small.
NEW CONTRALTO IN RECORDS.
Gabriella Besanzoni, the newest great contralto
of the Metropolitan Opera Company, has signed up
with the Victor Talking Machine Company and
America will soon hear her wonderful voice in Edi-
son records. Signorina Besanzoni is a Roman by
birth, young and beautiful, and her voice is pure
mezzo-soprano. She has appeared in Italy, Spain,
South America, Mexico and England and scored
a triumph in every country.
PENNSYLVANIA DEALER SELLS OUT.
E. J. Lannon, Susquehanna, Pa., has purchased
the stock of music and phonographs, of Joseph P.
McMahon, who has had a store on Franklin avenue,
that city, for several years.
THE ELLIS
Made to Fit Any Phonograph
THE PHONOGRAPH IN SCHOOLS
Western Writer Points Out the Growing Field of
Uses for the Machines.
The phonograph as an educational adjunct is com-
ing more into favor and its adoption for hitherto
untried purposes is the subject of many a report.
Of course, much of the present favor is due to
the perfection of the machines since the time they
were first put on the market, the perfection of the
records and the technic of recording the actual
performance of the artists.
"There are other uses of the phonograph besides
the entertainment and museum values, such as the
commercial and the educational. It is the latter use
that is interesting me just now, especially its use
in connection with the public schools," says Edwin
J. Stringman, writing in the Rocky Mountain News,
of Denver, Colo., recently.
"No one thing has done as much for the ad-
vancement of general musical appreciation as the
phonograph. No one thing can do as much for
the aesthetic development of the youth, consider-
ing cost and accessibility. It is the most efficient
method we have. Only a moment is necessary to
adapt this method to the various contingencies that
arise in the day-to-day routine in the public schools.
How much better pedagogy it is to illustrate the
songs of the birds when the classes are studying
that phase of nature. The subject matter sticks and
the correlation remains a valuable asset to the
child's education. When the pupils are studying
the life of Washington, for instance, and the author
tells that he liked to dance the minuet is the proper
thing to show them exactly what a minuet is like
from a musical standpoint."
E M P I R E E N T E R T A I N S GUESTS.
The T. J. Beasley Furniture Company, 243-245
South Main street, Memphis, Tenn., in advertising
the Empire talking machine, says: "When conver-
sation lags, how easy to turn to the E M P I R E for
help in entertaining the guests! It is a fascinating
task to fit your entertainment to your audience—
to sec them smile and muse and grow dreamily
reminiscent under the magic spell of harmonious
sound. You have at your beck and call the wonder-
ful works of the masters of music in infinite variety,
from the high clear notes of the famous prima
donna to the rollicking rhythm of the latest rag-
time song; from the martial tones of the military
band to the lilting melodies of Hawaii. And what
a matchless medium for your entertainment is the
E M P I R E talking machine.
TO BUILD CABINETS.
The Orinoco Furniture Company, Columbus, O.,
has closed a $i,00O,00O contract with the Sonora
Phonograph Company, of New York, to build phono-
graph cabinets. The local company's plant will be
enlarged and its working force increased. William
B. Lincoln is president of the furniture company
and is also president of the Lincoln Chair Company,
where some of the cabinets will be made. Mr. Lin-
coln announced that the chair company plant will
be enlarged soon. Arrangements are being made to
issue $100,000 in preferred stock to add to the cap-
italization of the Orinoco Company, which is capi-
talized at $100,000.
MAKES T H E MASTERTONE.
The Phelps Factories, Columbus, O., produce the
Mastertone phonograph for which exclusive merits
are claimed. "Of all the instruments in the world
today, there is nothing that can compare with the
wonderful Mastertone. It stands as a leader in
musical reproduction, in mechanical and cabinet
construction, in beauty and dependability," states the
company. "We cordially invite you to visit our fac-
tory show rooms and hear the wonderful Master-
tone under any test of comparison you may devise."
AN INFORMAL OPENING.
The informal opening of the new music store of
the Maison Blanche, one of the finest talking ma-
chine houses in New Orleans, La., was a recent event
of much interest in the local trade. The talking ma-
chine department embodies all modern improve-
ments and the homelike note is strongly emphasized
by the furnishings and appointments.
In producing a Musical Instru-
ment that will serve its intended
purpose, great care must be ex-
ercised as to the alliance of good
and useful improvements; you
will then be assured of a per-
manent and profitable business.
The Ellis will transform
your phonograph into a
Musical Instrument.
Ellis Reproducer Co.
Powers BIdg.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
"Hear That Tone"
A MOTTO JUSTIFIED BY
ACHIEVEMENT
The remarkable clarity of tone re-
production which characterizes all
FUEHR & STEMMER
PHONOGRAPHS
is due to the PERFECTED TONE
CHAMBER which, with the in-
genious TONE MODIFIER lifts
these instruments far above other
talking machines.
Write for particulars.
BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL CABI-
NETS WITH PIANO FINISH.
Make your Talking Machine De-
partment pay.
FUEHR & STEMMER PIANO CO.
Chicago, III.
A Talking Machine
Triumph
Dealers who want Talking Machines that
n e v e r d i s a p p o i n t will find them here.
Manufacturers will be interested in the
new Zifstf Record File.
S*nd for Illustrated
Ask about it.
Circular*.
DETERLING MFG. CO.
TIPTON, IND.
AUTHORIZES STOCK ISSUE.
Stockholders of the Emerson Phonograph Com-
pany have authorized an issue of $500,000 8 per
cent cumulative preferred stock of $100 par value,
redeemable at the option of the directors on thirty
days' notice subsequent to January 1, 1923, at $115
a share.
That excess—saved—is Capital.
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